Recommendations

Hello! Shalom! Aloha! Mabuhay!
If this is your first visit to Modern Apocrypha, I have only two recommendations for continuing on with minimal confusion:

1) Please begin with the first introductory post (found HERE) and work your way forward. Almost all the posts on this blog flow chronologically and will make more sense with the background and context of previous ones. Jumping in anywhere might be disorienting.

2) Please read along in the texts posted off to the right. I try not to summarize too much in the commentary and discussion, and being at least somewhat familiar with what we're discussing or I'm commenting on will be most beneficial and edifying for all involved. Plus, going along with the theme of this blog, any hidden truths to be brought to light will be found within the text itself and not necessarily within my ramblings.
Okay, fine, three recommendations:3) Please read with an open heart, mind, and spirit. See what truths you can find in these works--ones which speak to you. Namaste : )

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

SURAN 3 - THE BRASS PLATES

(This a second attempt at this post. A nearly complete first version was eaten by Blogger, which was a catalyst for the year-long hiatus. #NotTheHappiestCamper)

The Record of the Ancients ≈ The Brass Plates
Between Suran 3's two Isaiah quotations, there is a Messianic passage not found in the Bible... It's from the Book of Mormon--1 Nephi 19 to be precise. However, like the Isaiah verses, Suran 3 isn't an exact copy of 1 Nephi 19. Here's a side-by-side comparison (differences in bold-italics):

1 Nephi 19

Suran 3

9 And the world, because of their
iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge
him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they
spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his
long-suffering towards the children of men.

And the world, because of their wickedness, shall
judge him to be nothing; wherefore they scourge him, and he endureth it; and
they smite him, and he endureth it. Even they spit upon him, and he endureth
it, and all this because of his loving kindness and his long suffering
towards the children of men.

10 And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt,
out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the
God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according
to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be
lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according
to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words
of Zenos, which he spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should
be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the
sea, more especially given unto those who are of the house of Israel.

And even the God of our fathers, who were led out
of captivity from Egypt, and also were preserved in the wilderness through
Him, even, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he
giveth himself, as a man, into the hands of evil men, to be lifted up,
according to the words of an angel. Wherefore he shall be lifted up even upon
a cross to be crucified and he shall be entombed in a sepulchre. And there
shall be three days of darkness which shall overcome the land and these
things shall be a sign of his death even unto us who are among the children
of Israel.

11For thus spake the prophet: The Lord God surely shall
visit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his voice, because of
their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others with the thunderings
and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke, and vapor
of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains which shall be
carried up.

The Lord our God shall come unto all those who
are of the house of Israel at that day.

12And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet
Zenos. And the rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of
the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by
the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers.

(not included)

13And as for those who are at Jerusalem, saith the
prophet, they shall be scourged by all people, because they crucify the God
of Israel, and turn their hearts aside, rejecting signs and wonders, and the
power and glory of the God of Israel.

Even those people who do reside in a distant
land, even Jerusalem, they shall be punished because they have crucified
their God. And they have rejected the signs and wonders and power and glory
which doth accompany the God of Israel.

14 And because they turn their hearts aside, saith the
prophet, and have despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the
flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all
nations.

And because of their pride they shall be hated
among many nations.

15Nevertheless, when that day cometh, saith the prophet,
that they no more turn aside their hearts against the Holy One of Israel,
then will he remember the covenants which he made to their fathers.

But when they shall turn again unto Him and
remember the Holy One of Israel, He shall fulfill those promises which were
made unto them through their fathers.

16Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea,
and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith
the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters
of the earth.

(not included)

17Yea, and all the earth shall see the salvation of the
Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be
blessed.

And all the earth shall see Him and they shall
all be blessed.

We don't have time to compare and contrast all the intriguing differences and similarities (e.g., Suran omits verses speaking directly of "the isles of the sea"); however, it's clear that Suran 3 is not copying directly from 1 Nephi 19 (as we see from time to time with the Book of Mormon and KJV). Rather, there is enough evidence to suggest they are variations on a single source. Now this is interesting because in these verses, Nephi is quoting a compilation of Messianic prophecies by the extra-Biblical Zenock, Zenos, and Neum, and Suran follows the same verse order, which would indicate these prophecies were packaged together within the record they're citing--in Nephi's case, the Brass Plates, and the Record of the Ancients for Suran. Meaning, the Record of the Ancients could represent a rough equivalent of the Brass Plates. (As a tangential aside, brass in Shakespearean and King James speak really means any bronze alloy or even just copper, rather than our modern alloy of brass.) Unfortunately, the Record of the Ancients will not be published until after the Kingdom of Maharlika has been established.